Rough and tumble debate ends in a draw

Joe Biden won't have to live with Barack Obama's regret that he was "too polite" after the vice-president's tussle with the Republican candidate, Paul Ryan.

Unlike the President, Mr Biden pursued Mr Ryan doggedly throughout the hour-and-a-half town hall style debate that covered foreign policy and national security extensively but also the economy, healthcare and even how the two men's Catholicism had informed their view on abortion.

It was not immediately clear that either man had "won" the debate as Mitt Romney so obviously had against Mr Obama last week. It is likely both campaigns will be happy with the performances.

An early CNN poll gave the debate to Mr Ryan by 48 per cent to 44 per cent.

Flamboyant ... Joe Biden makes an extravagant point during the debate with Paul Ryan, moderated by Martha Raddatz. Photo: Reuters

Democrats, who worried that the President allowed too many of Mr Romney's points to pass unchallenged last week, enjoyed Mr Biden's aggressive debate tactics.

He interrupted the younger man willingly and forcefully and chortled though many of Mr Ryan's answers. He rolled his eyes and sighed, and at one point even raised both his hands palm-up in mock despair.

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About 24 minutes into the speech he attacked Mr Ryan over Mr Romney's now notorious "47 per cent" comment — an attack many had expected to hear from Mr Obama.

But Mr Ryan did not back down, early on telling Mr Biden, "I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't interrupt each other."

Mr Ryan accused the White House of issuing confused details about the murder of the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi last month.

"This Benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of itself, but unfortunately it's indicative of a broader problem, and that is what we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy," Mr Ryan said.

Friendly moment ... members of the Biden and Ryan families greet one another on stage after the debate. Photo: Reuters

"It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack."

The response was vintage Biden: "With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey."

I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't interrupt each other.

The two agreed that the time had come to wind down America's involvement in Afghanistan, but Mr Ryan accused the administration of showing weakness and emboldening the enemy by announcing a 2014 drawdown date.

As the moderator – a finely controlled Martha Raddatz of ABC – moved the debate on to the economy, Mr Biden, employing the folksy language he is known for, said: "They talk about this Great Recession if it fell out of the sky, like, 'Oh, my goodness, where did it come from?' It came from this man voting to put two wars on a credit card, to at the same time put a prescription drug benefit on the credit card, a trillion-dollar tax cut for the very wealthy."

The two flatly disagreed over tax, with Mr Biden maintaining the Democrat charge that the Romney/Ryan tax plan to cut taxes but maintain revenue by closing loopholes would not work, and that the middle class would end up shouldering the burden for the wealthy.

Asked to speak personally about their feelings about abortion Mr Ryan began by discussing an ultrasound of his unborn daughter.

"Our little baby was in the shape of a bean, and to this day we have nicknamed our first born child, Liza, 'Bean'," he said. "Now, I believe that life begins at conception . . . those are the reasons why I'm pro-life. Now, I understand this is a difficult of issue, and I respect people who don't agree with me on this, but the policy of a Romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and [threats to the] life of the mother."

Mr Biden said his Catholic faith informed him also that life began with conception, but said he would not impose his personal views in his public life.

"I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that, women, that they can't control their body," he said. "It's a decision between them and their doctor, in my view, and the Supreme Court. I'm not going to interfere with that."

Though the atmosphere at the table the two men shared with Raddatz was often tense, immediately afterwards both men's families joined them on the stage to mingle.

It was a moment of civility that seemed out of step with the long presidential campaign.